Maturing

Well, I guess it's official.  I can't game anymore.  

 

When I had some down time, when most folks would watch TV before bed, I'd usually fire up the old PS4 and play my favorite game for a bit.

 

Have a good trip

I really like Fallout 4.  Running around looking for trouble and doing the quests was a hoot.  Fed something in my head..... well, it used to.  I quit playing video games after the injury, and lightning ate the PS4 last August.   My son gave me his X-box last week when he upgraded.  

It's been two years since the concussion, and I thought, why not try it again.  After just a few hours over a couple days, I started taking a nap after playing for an hour.  Then, the restless sleep schedule started at about ten hours in (7th day or so).  Yesterday was the icing on the cake.  It takes the wind out of me.   Bad rest, little energy, two naps, and nothing accomplished all day.  Time to give up my drug of choice and get back to normal me.  

 

Thinking via Template 

One of the things I fought when I came out of the head injury fog in 2020, was the almost total exhaustion in the early afternoon.  I finally understood that the concussion "reset" my head such that I didn't know what to ignore.  When we do our daily stuff, things that don't move, or are exactly how we remember them are filed away as a template.  When we "see" them again, they match the template and don't require any input and can be safely ignored.  When we drive, everything is moving relative to us, so we scan and categorize things into DANGERS or ignorable.  Trees don't normally run out into the road, so they are ignored.  A ball rolling out between cars is an instant warning of DANGER.  After the injury, my head didn't know what to ignore and what not to.  So, it was like a time-slowing accident all day. 

 

Fallout 4 is that all over again.  There is no template in that game.

  

I'm not willing to lose ground when I can be outside working on projects and making progress on my goals.

Making stuff and making progress are much more fulfilling than playing anyway.  I DID learn that over the last two years.